About svenjawhateverr

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In this day and age, our world became incredibly fast moving. Everywhere and always there are so many things, so much happening around you that it is hard to focus on the important things in life. We can’t even be a second without checking our phone, checking our emails, scrolling through Facebook, getting so much information at once. We believe that we would miss out on something. Do we really,… I guess not. In a way we think we miss out on news, disasters, the most recent products and even unimportant tweets of some celebrities. But why do we have this need to keep up with everything around us? We should all slow down, focus on the important and move on. That is easier said than done.

I personally have the problem, that I waste my whole day watching YouTube videos. But literally, I waste all day, refreshing my subscriptions, I know at what time my favourite Let’s Player uploads a new video of like 40 minutes. By the time I finish the video, there are two more already waiting for me in my subscription box. It’s a doom loop. I can never catch up. When I do, I didn’t achieve anything. And I’m serious, for real, I spend the day in bed from 8am to 10pm. Whatever I set up for the day totally went downhill.

This is where the thought of “taking a deep breath” comes in. You must be thinking, this doesn’t make sense. When I already wasted my time by not doing anything productive, getting overwhelmed with news and social media updates how am I supposed to slow down. I can’t even keep up now. But here is the deal:

Consider this, by taking a breath, just focusing on the moment for a minute it will come clear what matters to you. It’s meant to clear your thoughts. Get rid off everything useless. Now work out one goal you have, big or small and break it down into baby steps; what actions do you need to do to achieve these things. Write them down and create an action plan.

I actually want to get more in detail about goal setting and being more productive, but that could be a whole blog post in itself. Stay tuned for it.

Please feel free to drop your experiences in the comments below or to hit me up on social media. I’d love to chat with you.

You all must be expecting some big purge of some huge area in my life. It’s not that. I’ve been going through the decluttering process for the past year and it’s a journey and nothing anyone could accomplish in a day. Since this is my first post on minimalism I give you a little background story.

I guess it all started because I discovered a video on minimalism by Rachel Aust. If you don’t know her yet, check out her channel she is such an inspiration. It must have been a video on how to cull your wardrobe or something similar that got me thinking. And from that day on I kept watching decluttering videos, videos on how to get rid off things and how to simplify your life. I went through a lot of things, it took me multiple months and it’s been a journey itself. I went through my clothes, stationary, books, sentimental items and everything else I own a few times already. For I while I was happy with what I accomplished.

My mindset really started to change when I came back from Australia in March 2016. I got back from visiting my boyfriend, I was gone for 2 months and when I walked into my room back in Germany, it hit me. I don’t need all this crap. I didn’t miss any of this. I didn’t even know I owned that many things. These thoughts came up with almost everything I didn’t take with me to Australia.

Because I wasn’t planning to move to Australia straight away I didn’t take action just that moment. It took me a few months. Now, I’m finally here, that I want to be honest with myself and only want to keep what I want to take with me when I move in April this year. I want to travel as light as possible and only keep the things around me that I love and truely need.

I recently applied this thought to one area in my life. I’ve been collecting birthday, Christmas (and other events) cards since I can remember. I had a huge paper box full of cards from my family, friends and people. I’ve been blindly adding the recent Christmas and birthday cards to the other stash, never considering if any of these mean anything to me. I went with the following mindset into the decluttering process: Do I love the person who gave this card to me? Is this cards especially pretty and makes me happy when I see it? Maybe the person passed away who gave me this birthday card and it’s a special memory.

With these guidelines I went through all letters and cards. Now I know what cards I own and why they are important to me. I kept a card in which my grandma signed. My very first Christmas card I got from my aunt and uncle back in 1995. A birthday letter that I got for my 16th birthday while I was in Australia. I went from having about 100 cards to having a handful. Before, I wasn’t able to tell you what was in that box. Now I love and appreciate every card.

It’s just one of the tiniest steps towards a simpler life. But there will be a huge development after each and every small step you take on your journey.

For the first time in a while I didn’t have to go home by myself. The last two times I had to say goodbye to the love of life at the airport. This time I finally felt nothing but excitement going through the gate towards the security. Not only because I wasn’t alone but was able to take Josh with me but even more for him to get to go to another country, getting to know my family and friends. I’ve been waiting for this moment for two years and I don’t want him to be disappointed.

Going from Germany to Australia and the other way around is a long trip. I remember the last time. After the first 13 hour flight I arrived in Abu Dhabi and had just the feeling that I was missing out. He keeps living his life but without me. I was sitting at the airport waiting. For him it was already the next afternoon, back at work. Living his life without me. It made me feel guilty. Leaving him alone, having to leave even though I didn’t want to. But just as his life had to go on, mine had to, too. I felt dizzy, another 6 hours ahead of me.

Now, it all feels so different, it is our adventure together. We get to spend one month together, I want him to have the best time of his life. At the end, it will be the other way around. I will be the one that has to let him go. I can’t go with him just yet. I will be staying in Germany for another 8 weeks until my dream finally comes true:

One way ticket to Australia. I’ve been waiting for this for the past 7 years. The day is finally here. After all those years, I always promised myself I would move over one day. I had other goals along the way, finishing school, going to university and a lot more. I had it my end goal and now that it will be coming true it’s time to set up more achievements for the future. I never thoughts I would be here, I still can’t believe 7 years have past since I was in Australia for the first time. Your dreams can come true, when you set yourself up for success and working towards it, it is possible. I didn’t know how long it would take. But ever action, every hour should lead you towards your dream, one tiny step at a time.

Here we are now, together at the airport. I’ve never been so excited to see my family and friends again. I will be an amazing time:

Or is it?

Welcome to 2017, hang on: welcome to Wednesday, 3 January. Disclaimer: New Years Resolutions suck! Why? Because why do people waste weeks, months or just the weekend to have a clean start on Monday? I’m one of those people. Having all good intentions. I’m having the biggest to do lists, biggest goals, I know where I want to be.

But when it is a Thursday night, sometime during the week, sometime during the month, sometime during the year, I might have a few doubts about my good intentions to get shit done. I stop watching Netflix, sit up in bed, get out my planner, notebook and computer to write down everything I want to achieve. I write down even the smallest thing I want to get done at home. When I’m done I look at my uncountable tasks, look at the time, 8 PM, and lie back down in bed and keep watching TV series. Why? To be honest, I’m not a lazy person, I know what my goals are and I have all the motivation in the world to get up my ass to go outside, experience the world and be spontaneous. So why the hell can I not be bothered to start? Because I procrastinate!!! Like a champion in the field. The most successful leader in pushing back tasks. I say to myself: I get up early af in the morning, have my morning tea, have a shower and smash this to do list. When the next day rolls around my mindset looks somethings like this: aw, it’s almost the weekend, relaxing and doing nothing, I should start Monday. God knows why I think this way, or does he?

Here comes my question for you: Why do we wait for a new year to come around to achieve our goals? It’s the concept of time that is stopping us. We don’t want to start in the middle of something, at least I feel that way. I used to need a clean slate to begin with my better life. This pressure though makes it hard. So here comes the deal: Yes, a fresh start for me because I don’t want to wait anymore for a new week, a new year to begin. We have the feeling to give up on our new resolutions because we fail. We get the need to start a new habit, mine would be to drink more water. And we treat it like we want to get to the goal as fast as we can. We go from 1 to 5 litres in a day without even considering if that’s possible. Truth is, no. By the second week of January, I might only drink 2 litres a day and just give up because I failed my good intentions. This is the wrong way to do it.

We should see everyday and even every hour as a new start.

Every hour you have the opportunity to begin again. To catch up on your goals, to start new ones and to evaluate what you have achieved so far. Every moment in your life you have the chance to be better and to follow your dreams and make them happen.

Cheerio, Svenja

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”